fish are dying!

[123juliew]

Hi,
I have had a 55 gal tank for 6 months now, and I can't seem to keep a fish alive for longer than a few weeks. I have no live sand or rock. I have crushed coral and artificial rock. I have well water that I treat with AmQuel water conditioner. My SG has stayed around 1.026. My nitrate/ammonia levels are "good". I cycled the tank with flake food for 4 weeks before adding fish. I started with 2 clownfish and a peppermint shrimp. The shrimp died almost immediately. I added 2 bar gobies about a month later. Then a coral beauty which had ich. The medicated treatment killed everything. So I got a hospital tank and add three humbug aruanus and 2 turbo snails. The humbugs end up getting ich and die in the hospital tank. The snails died almost immediately in the main tank. Okay… I start over AGAIN with three blue-green chromes in the main tank. Within a month I'm down to one. I'm ready to give up.
Is this just bad luck? Each time I've purchased fish I've done so from a different place.
What am I doing wrong? I'll take any help I can get!!
Thanks!!

 

[dmanatee]

1. how are you acclimating you fish and inverts.
2. What are your actual parameters of the tank other than "good"

Data Data. "Can't make bricks without clay"

 

[123juliew]

I acclimate by adding 2 cups of tank water every 15 minutes for one hour into a bowl carrying the new fish and water from the bag the fish came in. Then pour everything into the tank.
My ammonia is at 0, nitrate is 0- 0.5, nitrite is at 0 and pH is 8.0

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by 123juliew http:///t/396432/fish-are-dying#post_3532254
Hi,
I have had a 55 gal tank for 6 months now, and I can't seem to keep a fish alive for longer than a few weeks. I have no live sand or rock. I have crushed coral and artificial rock. I have well water that I treat with AmQuel water conditioner. My SG has stayed around 1.026. My nitrate/ammonia levels are "good". I cycled the tank with flake food for 4 weeks before adding fish. I started with 2 clownfish and a peppermint shrimp. The shrimp died almost immediately. I added 2 bar gobies about a month later. Then a coral beauty which had ich. The medicated treatment killed everything. So I got a hospital tank and add three humbug aruanus and 2 turbo snails. The humbugs end up getting ich and die in the hospital tank. The snails died almost immediately in the main tank. Okay… I start over AGAIN with three blue-green chromes in the main tank. Within a month I'm down to one. I'm ready to give up.
Is this just bad luck? Each time I've purchased fish I've done so from a different place.
What am I doing wrong? I'll take any help I can get!!
Thanks!!

Hi,

Welcome to the site,

First and foremost, the water quality is the most important thing to put in a fish tank, double important with a SW tank. I have well water. Your well water has trace elements in it you can't even test for, as well as anything in the soil that gets washed down into the well...the solution is to go to get your own RO (REVERSE OSMOSIS) unit, or go to the grocery store where they have a refill water station, and purchase water. Walmart sells water for 37 cents a gallon. All refill stations are 5 stage filtered reverse osmosis water. The LFS sells RO for more then a grocery store charges, but you can purchase your water already mixed....you pay extra for that.

Also get your own master test kit, not API. I use Seachem myself, Salifert and Instant Ocean are also good brands. Go on-line, you can purchase pretty much anything you need, just google it.
Tests you need:

• PH
• Ammonia
• Nitrite
• Nitrate
  Phosphate
  Calcium
  Alkalinity or KH

Personally, since you have to dump all the old water anyway, I would swap out the crushed coral for sand...many SW critters dig, and CC is hard on them, they also have a harder time keeping it clean and you will end up having to vacuum it...save yourself some work, and get sand instead. Just as a precaution, Rinse in new mixed saltwater all of your rocks to get rid of any pollutants that it may have absorbed from the well water...run carbon in your filter to combat any other toxins that may be remaining.

Time means NOTHING when it comes to cycling the tank, only your test kits can tell you when the tank is cycled. I applaud you for ghost feeding instead of using a live fish. I feel pretty confident that if you change your water out, that it should allow you to restart on a better foot and be successful.

I hope you stay around, the folks here are very helpful and you can learn so much, I know I have.

 

[tur4k]

Did you put ich medication in your tank? Most ich medications are highly toxic to inverts.

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by tur4k http:///t/396432/fish-are-dying#post_3532272
Did you put ich medication in your tank? Most ich medications are highly toxic to inverts.

I'm using this opportunity to preach the real solution to the parasite ich...
They have "reef safe" ich medicine such as Kick Ich, but they don't work, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure...use a quarantine tank to prevent getting the parasite in the first place. Once it's in the display, all fish have to be removed for 8 weeks to allow the parasite to die off without a host, and treat the infected fish in a hospital tank.

 

[123juliew]

Hi,
Welcome to the site,
First and foremost, the water quality is the most important thing to put in a fish tank, double important with a SW tank. I have well water. Your well water has trace elements in it you can't even test for, as well as anything in the soil that gets washed down into the well...the solution is to go to get your own RO (REVERSE OSMOSIS) unit, or go to the grocery store where they have a refill water station, and purchase water. Walmart sells water for 37 cents a gallon. All refill stations are 5 stage filtered reverse osmosis water. The LFS sells RO for more then a grocery store charges, but you can purchase your water already mixed....you pay extra for that.
Also get your own master test kit, not API. I use Seachem myself, Salifert and Instant Ocean are also good brands. Go on-line, you can purchase pretty much anything you need, just google it.
Tests you need:

• PH
• Ammonia
• Nitrite
• NitratePhosphateCalciumAlkalinity or KH

Personally, since you have to dump all the old water anyway, I would swap out the crushed coral for sand...many SW critters dig, and CC is hard on them, they also have a harder time keeping it clean and you will end up having to vacuum it...save yourself some work, and get sand instead. Just as a precaution, Rinse in new mixed saltwater all of your rocks to get rid of any pollutants that it may have absorbed from the well water...run carbon in your filter to combat any other toxins that may be remaining.
Time means NOTHING when it comes to cycling the tank, only your test kits can tell you when the tank is cycled. I applaud you for ghost feeding instead of using a live fish. I feel pretty confident that if you change your water out, that it should allow you to restart on a better foot and be successful.
I hope you stay around, the folks here are very helpful and you can learn so much, I know I have.

 

[123juliew]

Thank you so much for all of your help!!!!!